Israeli State leader Benjamin Netanyahu this week encouraged the Lebanese nation to ascend against Hezbollah, or hazard a comparable destiny to Hamas-run Gaza.
Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office, stated at a Geneva media briefing, “We are appalled by sweeping inflammatory language on multiple sides.”
“Recent language calling on the Lebanese people as a whole to rise up against Hezbollah or face destruction like Gaza risks being understood as encouraging or accepting violence directed against civilians and civilian objects, in violation of international law.”
She also called “unacceptable” the “ongoing denigration of the United Nations, in particular UNRWA,” the United Nations organization that helps six million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.
“This sort of harmful manner of speaking, from any source, should stop,” she said.
Israel has been at odds with the organization for a long time and claims that some of its employees were involved in the Hamas raids on October 7.
Since September 23, Israel has intensified its assault on Hezbollah in Lebanon, killing over 1,200 people and displacing over a million others.
On September 30, its ground forces entered Lebanon with the intention of halting Hezbollah’s support for Hamas through cross-border fire.
Shamdasani stated, “The killing, destruction, and bellicose posturing by those in positions of power must end.”
“The lives and well-being of potentially millions of people across the region are at risk due to growing conflict and progressive escalation.”
According to the World Health Organization, there have been 18 attacks on health care facilities in Lebanon since September 17 that have resulted in 72 deaths and 40 injuries among health staff.
The WHO records such incidents but does not assign blame.
